BANGALORE: ‘Shabda-pradhan’ or ‘sahithya pradhan’ or word-dominated ghazals enjoy a prime place in the varied forms of in Hindusthani music’s repertoire. Ghazals may be classified under the domain of light classical music. Besides ghazals thumri, dadra, and kajri are the other word-dominated light classical forms in which words, rasa and swara go together. Basically ghazal is a form of Urdu poetry consisting of independent couplets. Generally amorous in character ghazal may revolve around several subjects including love, life, wine and philosophy. Hence the popularity of the exclusive evenings of ghazals — ‘Sham-e-ghazal’ is ever increasing and they are capable of yielding instant pleasure. Gokulam School of Music led by a veteran flautist H S Venugopal needs to be commended for providing a slot for ghazal singing during its Kalaarnava-2011 cultural fest last Sunday at the JSS auditorium. Multi-talented singer Varijasri and Ustad Faiyaz Khan were the singers with Srinivasaachar(guitar), Maheshswamy(flute), Varunpradeep(harmonium) and Sangappa Hugar(table) as the useful accompanists. The atmosphere was compact and favourable for facile communication. The duo’s adherence to ‘sur’, to the finer aspects of musical notes and emotions of the ghazals sung were the important redeeming features of their ghazal concert. Shola tha, and Apni tasveer were rendered by Faiyaz and Varija was passionate enough in presenting Kya lage aankhen and appropriately joined Faiyaz in singing together Daya re dil(Asha Bhonsle-Ghulam Ali) and Chup chup ke raath din. The artistes’ creativity and improvisations matched the bhava of the compositions.Sight to beholdIn a dance spectacle Marga bandhu Krishna that followed the dancing was a pleasurable treat. No awesome technical capacity here. Instead it was the lack of a performing axe and the total absence of that stuffiness associated with formal shows, which was so refreshing. It was the ebullience and the sheer joy in dancing and love for the art the dancers demonstrated. It was a sight to behold to watch seasoned and leading dancers like Sheela Chandrekhar, Sowndarya Srivatsa, Sathyanarayana Raju, Praveenkumar, Shubhada, Aparna, the Tandava group and the prize-disciples of Gurus like Lalitha Srinivasan, late Narmada, Radha Sridhar, Kirans, Brinda, Usha and others donning the Bharatanatyam costumes and executing the niceties of the bhava, raga and tala of the selected items. Another noteworthy aspect was that almost all the leading dance musicians adorned the live music ensemble. Marga is not only the traditional and universally accepted repertoire of a Bharatanatyam concert but also it is a journey to attain bliss. The mentor of the festival Venugopal had wonderfully created a one line definition in Kannada for the Marga items. With these lines as the preface, the cream of dancers and musicians(Srivatsa, Vasudha, Bharathi, Narayanaswamy, Chandrasekhar, Gurumurthy, Prasannakumar etc) combined artistically to present Pushpanjali, Alarippu, Jathiswara (Neelambari), Shabda(ragamalika), varna(Charukeshi, Innum enmanam), devaranama (tatadhimita) and an eye filling tillana. Even the mangala was done in style. Various dancers in groups shared each avarthana of the varna in a perfect sync, laudable angashuddha and keen understanding. The laya precision was enthralling. Hypnotising Bhanumathi Veteran artiste Bhanumathi not only had the winning smile on her face as a choreographer par excellence but also demonstrated a highly satwika oriented animated abhinaya(nayikabhaava, Poorvikalyani, Nee maatalemaayanura). With poise and balance she gave an aesthetic dimension to the art of abhinaya.[email protected]
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